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They're retreading so much ground though, it seems silly not to have it included. Hell, the title screen is Sonic 2's, just with updated graphics and the newer models. The special stages are clearly aped from Sonic 2 as well. Yet, the one thing they can't do is let Tails be playable separately, which fans are fine with? If we get episode 3, I bet they'll go "Okay, okay, you can play as Tails. But you know how we've just introduced Knuckles? Yeah, not playable."

I'm not saying the Sonic community is easily pleased, but Sega do seem to be going about doing so in a very peculiar manner.

While the core element that makes it Sonic (i.e. the motion) is missing from Episode 1, all the ancillary elements that contribute to making it Sonic are present and correct. As weird as it is to say, there is some value to be had from Episode 1, but it's somehow not in playing it. But what else are you supposed to do with a game? It's very odd.

I get what you're saying. Sometimes something cheap doesn't make it worth it and I think Ep1 is a good example of that.

Incidentally, I've been playing Sonic Rush on the DS and you can really tell it's by the same people; same physics, level design, etc. The music is actually really good, but I don't think it's their work. The boss fights are a bit shoddy and the amount of pits is a bit silly, but it's otherwise pretty fun. I guess the fact it's on a handheld makes it seem acceptable to be doing the same mistakes.

So the Alpha of Sonic 2 HD has been released. It's about 90mb. Looks, sounds and plays great. Contains Emerald Hill Zone and a false positive for a trojan (it's, somewhat ironically, DRM...). There are a few people reporting technical problems, but I ran it at best graphics with a consistently high FPS, so make of that what you will. It also contains controller support (although you have to manually set the button). You can change any settings by right clicking once it's loaded.

Last edited by The JG Man; 10-04-2012 at 02:17 PM.
Reason: Removed link

Episode 1 is worth it if you are a fan of the new Sonic style. It has the same physics and wonky controls that made me hate Generations (even though I loved the music, art style etc). But if you can't get passed that, give it a miss.

I'd strongly argue with the physics being the same as Generations. They're not perfect, but they're not as atrocious as 4.

Also, I've found another 'easter egg' in Sonic 2 HD. Playing it at a high resolution but with low resolution textures? It looks like Sonic 2 actually did!..yes, I know that's not actually an easter egg.

Part of me is excited for that Unleashed mod, part of me feels a bit meh about it because as much as I'd love to play Unleashed on PC, that mod will still just be only half the experience (and I happen to like a lot of the bits outside the day stages!).

In other Sonic "news", rumours of SA2 coming to XBox Live Arcade have started to emerge (and most likely PSN appearance as well). A PC port will be unlikely sadly because the game never appeared on PC to begin with and the recent Heroes re-release made no ripples on our beloved platform either. If the rumours are true and it'll appear on PS3 as well, I'll still be very happy though - SA2 is probably the most personally important Sonic title to me and I wouldn't mind having a more readily accessible copy of it.

SA1 felt like a huge experimentation project; It was fun (for me at least) but it had many rough edges; waaaaay too many rough edges.
SA2 feels much more focused and complete, ridiculously less buggy, has a much more kickass OST, the Chao Garden was way more polished... I dunno, it's just way better than SA1 in pretty much every possible aspect imaginable.

PSA: I am horribly biased when it comes to SA2; it's my favourite Sonic game ever, and I can do nothing but shower it with praise as a result.

The night time stages are going to use Classic Sonic in 3D because he's slower, so all the levels will be there in some form or another.

Still missing the hubs and story/Chip though, right? Both probably things that do not matter to most, especially if you only want the proper gameplay sequences, but to me they are fairly important parts of the whole of Unleashed and I really appreciate the whole of that game. I don't really expect or demand a mod to act as the full game but like said, even with all the stages it's still not the full Unleashed experience I'd love to enjoy on PC rather than console.

Rauten, agree with pretty much everything you wrote about SA1/SA2, including the PSA bit. SA2's a hugely influential game in my life and one with a genuine impact to a lot of things beyond just gaming. Though I can recognise it has some flaws here and there, it's by and far my favourite Sonic title (and one of my all-time favourite games in general by proxy); a title I'm not sure any other future Sonic title can ever challenge no matter how fantastic they are (hi Gens!) because they lack the huge personal importance associated with the game.

In addition, if you own Ep 1 and 2, you get to play as Metal Sonic as well as in some bonus levels (it looks like they borrow the assets from Sonic Generations and he gets revived in the Bad Future of Stardust Speedway). So, yeah. A reason to own Ep 1...when it goes on sale.